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BREAKING: TACO TUESDAY! Trump CAVES on his threats to destroy Iran’s “whole civilization,” announces two-week cease-fire.
Anyone checking in on social media right now will surely find themselves facing a deluge of taco pictures and memes. That’s because those taco posts are shorthand for the consistently accurate slogan “Trump Always Chickens Out.”
Donald Trump spent Tuesday morning threatening to annihilate an entire civilization with bellicose threats against Iran if it did not reopen the oil tanker passageway, the Strait of Hormuz. By Tuesday evening, however, he had folded like a lawn chair.
At 8 a.m., Trump posted on Truth Social that "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." He set a hard deadline: Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. Eastern or face destruction. It was so extreme that Marjorie Taylor Greene called it "evil and madness." Alex Jones called it a war crime. Candace Owens demanded the 25th Amendment. Congressman Ro Khanna called for Trump's immediate removal.
At 6:32 p.m. — 88 minutes before his own apocalyptic deadline — Trump blinked and posted this on his Truth Social feed:
“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
Trump posted this proclamation, but it’s unclear whether Iran has actually agreed to reopen the Strait. Especially since late-breaking news reports indicate that just 10 minutes after Trump posted his screed, Iran launched a new barrage of missiles toward Israel, according to the Israeli Defense Forces.
This wasn't even the first time that Trump backed off from his increasingly meaningless threats. In fact, this marks the fourth time Trump has issued a deadline threat against Iran and then quietly abandoned it when the clock ran out. Four deadlines. Four caves. Zero results.
Let's recap the full arc of Tuesday alone. Trump threatened civilizational annihilation at breakfast, and then apparently half of his own base began calling for his removal under the 25th Amendment.
And then, with 88 minutes left on his self-imposed doomsday clock, he announced a two-week pause that Iran didn't even request, in response to a proposal from Pakistan. Not Iran. Pakistan.
This is the art of the deal. This is the tough-guy dealmaker who was going to bring America's adversaries to their knees. This is the man who threatened to wipe out a civilization — and then, when 8 p.m. approached, and the cameras were still rolling, and the bombs hadn't dropped, discovered that maybe two more weeks would be good actually.
"A whole civilization will die tonight," Trump promised at 8 a.m. By 6:32 p.m., the only thing that died was his credibility.
Don’t be surprised if we go through the exact same scenario in two weeks when the negotiations stall.
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